Founder and CEO of market research consultancy, Alter Agents; believer that powerful insights can change businesses.
Our industry spends a lot of time talking about what opportunities brands have to make their products or services more appealing to shoppers. What do shoppers want from the product? Which packaging is the most eye-catching? How do I get my product to stand out on the shelf, either in-store or online?
Creating the factors that pull consumers toward a brand’s offerings is critical. But equally important is knowing which barriers get in the way of that pulling effect. Those roadblocks can steer consumers away from a product in favor of another in an instant, so brands need to anticipate their troubles and get ahead of them.
This spring, my company fielded a nationwide survey to take the pulse of today’s shoppers and launch our Shopper Influence Research program. We heard from over 6,000 U.S.-based consumers across six purchase categories on a variety of topics, including their barriers to purchase. What concerned them during their shopper journey? Here are some of the most common issues we heard about, along with ways that brands can overcome them.
‘I wasn’t sure it was a good deal.’
We know that the vast majority of shoppers are cost-conscious. But the issue here is whether the shopper perceived the value of the product to be equal or greater than the price. There’s a lot to be said about adding messaging to packaging that tries to convince the consumer that they’re getting more for their money or at an ostensibly lower price than before. Sales work!
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‘The deal, sale or special offer I wanted was not available at the time.’
Timing is everything when it comes to reaching shoppers. When they’re cost-conscious, that means reaching them at the right time with the right price. Some retailers adopt strategies to neutralize the issue — think Trader Joe’s and its decision to never run sales or Walmart’s “Everyday Low Price” program. Additionally, programs that give shoppers the opportunity to trade in on sales/deals on their own timeline — Bed, Bath & Beyond’s coupons, for example — will give the shopper more control and keep them more brand loyal.
‘I was hesitant about purchasing from a brand that was new to me.’
Fear of the unknown breeds uncertainty and makes shoppers feel as though they’re not in control. That’s why they do research in the first place. For brands, getting over this issue is a two-part effort: brand awareness and customer education. Good marketing and packaging can do both, making the brand seem familiar to consumers and teaching them about the product’s or brand’s attributes at the same time.
‘The item I wanted was not available within the timeframe that I wanted it.’
We live in a culture of instant gratification, and shoppers do not like to wait. The constant push for quicker service, same-day delivery and the variety of choices that shoppers have online and in stores gives them little patience for long shipping times or out-of-stock errors. That consumer mindset has been consistently indulged by our retail culture — at least until the Covid-19 pandemic scrambled global supply chains.
In order to make sure products are available when shoppers want them, brands and retailers need to examine whether their supply and stocking strategies can consistently meet demand, even if that means carrying a little extra cost and weight.
‘I was concerned about how long the product would last.’
The only thing more annoying than having to find and purchase a product is having to do it again because the product wasn’t durable enough. Quality is a key part of a consumer’s cost-value analysis and an issue they care about. And with shoppers facing so many choices, they feel as though they can find a quality product if they look hard enough. Brands can put their offerings at the top of the pile by emphasizing quality and durability in their messaging and packaging.
With competition for shoppers’ attention and wallets becoming fiercer by the day, it isn’t enough for brands to focus their marketing and pricing strategies on product attributes alone. There’s a real need to do consumer research and understand what pain points shoppers have in their category so those can be addressed. That way, the brand can make a shopper’s journey from inspiration to purchasing their product as smooth and detour-free as possible.
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Author: Rebecca Brooks, Forbes Councils Member